Wall Street Zen Upgrades Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) to “Hold”

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on RKLB. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Rocket Lab from $47.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Rocket Lab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Rocket Lab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Rocket Lab from $63.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.92.

Rocket Lab Trading Up 4.9%

Shares of RKLB stock opened at $75.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -199.63 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a current ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.72. Rocket Lab has a twelve month low of $14.71 and a twelve month high of $99.58.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $155.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.45 million. Rocket Lab had a negative net margin of 35.64% and a negative return on equity of 27.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 48.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Rocket Lab will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rocket Lab

In other Rocket Lab news, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 1,365,665 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total transaction of $103,107,707.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,359,568 shares in the company, valued at $102,647,384. The trade was a 50.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nina Armagno sold 27,314 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.21, for a total transaction of $1,863,087.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 108,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,430,797.40. The trade was a 20.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,306,150 shares of company stock worth $271,865,732. Company insiders own 11.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Rocket Lab by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,420,192 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $3,308,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,610,469 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in Rocket Lab by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 17,851,446 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $1,245,317,000 after acquiring an additional 5,725,536 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Rocket Lab by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,462,103 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $692,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242,547 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Rocket Lab by 13.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,399,571 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $594,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Rocket Lab by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,004,724 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $626,605,000 after acquiring an additional 825,158 shares in the last quarter. 71.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab is an aerospace company that provides launch services, spacecraft, and space systems for commercial and government customers. The company’s primary launch vehicle is Electron, a small-lift orbital rocket designed to deploy small satellites and rideshare payloads to low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab also develops and manufactures the Rutherford engine, noted for its electric-pump-fed design and additive-manufactured components, which powers Electron and supports the company’s propulsion capabilities.